2001-04-18 04:00:00 PDT San Francisco -- A trucker accused of involuntary manslaughter in the alleged road rage death of a San Francisco cyclist posted bail yesterday after a judge dismissed the most serious charge in the case.

Rueben Espinosa, 42, of Fremont had faced possible three strikes prosecution in the Nov. 17 death of Chris Robertson, 30, who was struck and killed in a driving dispute on Fourth Street.

However, after two days of testimony, retired Judge Herb Donaldson ruled there was no proof of gross negligence as required by law for the involuntary manslaughter charge. He also reduced two assault charges against Espinosa to misdemeanors, and reduced his bail -- which had been as high as $2 million at one point -- to $10,000.

"I am not able to say that as to (the manslaughter count) there is sufficient evidence as to the gross negligence, and therefore I must discharge the defendant as to that," Donaldson said.

Robertson was crushed beneath Espinosa's 18-wheeler on Fourth Street as he and several other cyclists returned from a slain friend's memorial service.

Espinosa told authorities he had not seen the cyclist, but acknowledged that he had been involved in a "game of chicken" with the bike riders. The cyclists, according to witnesses, were riding slowly, and the truck attempted to pass them. At some point, a wooden block was thrown from the truck, resulting in the assault charges.

Defense witnesses testified that Espinosa, who had two passengers, could not see Robertson from the driver's seat of the truck.

Other witnesses said the truck's brake lights were on as the big rig was surrounded by taunting cyclists. Robertson and his friends had been drinking; he had a blood alcohol level of 0.15 percent.

"The bicyclists were far more aggressive than they have publicly acknowledged," said Charles Smith, Espinosa's attorney. "He was trying to avoid these cyclists, rather than trying to further the confrontation."

Smith said the police inspector in the case testified that the driver could not see out the right front corner of the rig, where Robertson was hit. That, combined with other evidence, showed he was not negligent, Smith said.

The judge said one of the most impressive witnesses was someone who said that as the truck was on the bridge, where the dispute occurred, it had moved slowly, with the brake lights on.

"I find it hard to understand a game of chicken in which you have your brake lights on," the judge found.

"I think the judge was wrong," she said. "I'm surprised. I believe the totality of the evidence demonstrated negligence on the part of the defendant."

She said the fact that Espinosa had made the statement that he was playing chicken with the cyclists was a sign of negligence.

Bicyclists were angry with the judge's decision, she said.

"They were very upset, very emotional," Randle said. "They too thought it was a clear case of vehicular manslaughter."

"I can't believe it," said Dave Snyder, executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. "It seems to me pretty clear from everything I heard that there is no dispute that there was a fight between the two of them and that this man ran over this person in anger."

"I'm trying to figure out what the sense of it is," he said. "That's crazy - - the judge is basically saying if you want to murder someone, do it with your car, and don't throw something at them first. I cannot make sense of this at all."

But Espinosa's attorney said justice had been done.

"This was a good decision," Smith said. "I'm just absolutely convinced the right decision was made. That only happened because we had a full and complete hearing of the evidence."

He said his client was the definitely the victim of an organized campaign by cyclists.

"It's ridiculous his bail was $2 million . . . and he was facing the rest of his life in prison," Smith said. "That was just wrong, in my opinion."

He said his client had killed someone at 19 and later gone to prison for an assault, accounting for his two previous felony convictions. However, he said, Espinosa has a job and is a religious family man.

"Hopefully, he'll continue on that path," Smith said. "Society should be happy that's the outcome rather than locking him up for the rest of his life for an accidental death."